Woman withdraws rape charges against city pastor
A Latvian woman Saulite Anda who accused Bugoolobi based Epikaizo Ministries International’s pastor Joseph Collins Twahirwa of rape, have withdrawn the case.
According to Observer Newspaper, Ms Anda withdrew the case in a July 18, letter where she cited forgiveness as the reason to withdraw the rape charges against.
The letter was addressed to the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the director of the police’s Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID).
“I humbly submit my application to withdraw the above-mentioned case after forgiving Mr Twahirwa Joseph Collins wholeheartedly,” reads in part the withdrawal letter addressed to the office of the DPP.
Adding; “I hope from today (August 23, 2023) and onwards, he will live freely since I have no other grievances in reference to the above case.”
Observer noted that the stamp on the withdrawal form of the Criminal Investigations Directorate, the same letter was received on August 28.
“When contacted, Irene Nakimbugwe, the deputy spokesperson of the office of the DPP, acknowledged receiving the withdrawal letter which she says was dropped off by an unknown person at Nakawa Chief Magistrate’s court and they cannot ascertain whether it was really written by Anda or not,” they stated in their article.
Nakimbugwe, according to Observer added that they told the person who dropped off the letter to tell Anda to go and see the DPP personally to understand her reasons of withdrawing the case but they have never heard from her and currently don’t even know her whereabouts.
“We have failed to get in touch with either the person who dropped off the letter or Anda herself. If she was indeed intending to withdraw the case, she should have come and approached us because we took so much interest in her case. At the time the case was ongoing, she came personally, met the DPP and told her the ordeal she had gone through. The DPP went over and above to ensure that the pastor is apprehended and the case is sanctioned and then from nowhere we receive a letter that she is no longer interested in the case,” she said.
Because the DPP has failed to verify the authenticity of this letter allegedly from Anda withdrawing the case, Nakimbugwe says that the state will still go ahead with prosecuting the pastor for the alleged crime since he was already committed to the High court pending trial and only waiting for the High court to give them a day for the hearing and proceed.
Speaking about the matter, Pastor Twahirwa, 28, a lawyer by profession, claimed witch-hunt, wondering why the DPP continues to prosecute him when the complainant has since lost interest in pursuing the matter.
“I am being witch-hunted and I have been deliberately denied justice in my own country for the past one year. I have made losses and many things yet many people depend on me,” Twahirwa said, adding that he was the first to file a case of cyber harassment against Anda on January 1 this year but no action was ever taken.
This come few months since he won a humanitarian award from the Uganda Youth Parliament and African Youth for Pan African Development Forum.
